The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Colocasia commonly known as the taro plant or elephant ears. Colocasia is grown as a food crop and for use as an ornamental plant in containers or in the landscape. The new cultivar is known botanically as Colocasia esculenta and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘Maui Sunrise’.
Colocasia is a tuberous rooted perennial which is native to tropical Asia and Polynesia. Native plants of Colocasia grow to 1.5 m to 2 m in height from starchy tubers. The leaves of Colocasia are heart-shaped and typically are very large in size.
The new Colocasia variety named ‘Maui Sunrise’ is the product of a formal breeding program carried out by the inventor in a cultivated area in Paia, Hi. The purpose of the breeding program is to develop new commercial varieties by combining attributes not found in currently commercially available varieties.
‘Maui Sunrise’ is a seedling selection from the controlled pollination of unreleased and unpatented varieties raised during the breeding program, namely breeding line ‘2007A-51’ as the male parent, and breeding line ‘2007A-4’ as the female parent. The inventor selected ‘Maui Sunrise’ in 2008.
‘Maui Sunrise’ exhibits a vigorous but compact plant habit with multiple basal branches giving rise to a high leaf count. The leaves of ‘Maui Sunrise’ are mid-green in color except for a prominent contrasting white to cream-yellow central streak.
The most commonly employed means of asexual propagation of the genus Colocasia is the excision and replanting of a shoot which consists of the apical 1 cm to 2 cm portion of the plant corm with the attached basal 15 cm to 20 cm portion of the petiole. In regions of the world where Colocasia is grown, this plant shoot is known as a “huli”, and the means of propagation is known as “huli propagation”, whereby the apical shoots are separated from the plant by cutting the shoot at the top of the corm immediately above the newest leaf scar and planted. The inventor first propagated ‘Maui Sunrise’ by the method of huli propagation in 2008 in Paia, Hi. Evaluation in field and pot studies have confirmed that the unique features of ‘Maui Sunrise’ are stable and uniform, and that ‘Maui Sunrise’ reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation by huli propagation and by tissue culture.